This invention relates to a combine harvester having a header for collecting cut crops and including a dust collection system to reduce the release of dust extracted from the crop by the harvesting action.
Combine harvesters are of course very well known and many different designs are manufactured by the main line manufacturer such as John Deere, International Harvester and Klaas. The design of these machines including a header for either effecting a straight cutting action or for pick-up of crops from a windrow or swath has been modified and improved over the years to obtain the best cutting and harvesting action.
However existing combine harvesters in some crops such as peas, lentils and canola have significant disadvantages in that the crop material itself generates high levels of dust which are then released by the harvesting action into the atmosphere.
The header includes a sickle knife or pick-up extending across the front edge of the header and there is provided a reel mounted above the sickle knife for sweeping the crop material rearwardly. On the header is mounted an auger transport system in the form of a rigid elongate tube extending across the full width of the header with that tube carrying auger flights on the outside surface which extend from the outermost edges inwardly toward the center of the header. At the center of the header the tube carries fingers which rotate with the tube to sweep the material carried by the auger flights rearwardly and upwardly for introduction into the feeder housing of the combine through an opening at the rear of the header frame.
In harvesting such dusty crop materials, the harvesting is seriously inhibited by the amount of dust that is generated by the crop so that the operator has difficulty observing the harvesting action and directing the combine harvester in the required cutting direction. In many cases, therefore, once the amount of illumination is reduced by dusk, it is no longer possible to continue the harvesting even with the relatively powerful lights available on modern combine harvesters.
It is one object of the present invention, therefore, to provide an arrangement for removing dust from the crop on a combine harvester of this type.
According to the invention, therefore, there is provided a combine harvester comprising a main combine body having ground wheels for movement of the combine body across the ground, a feeder housing mounted on the combine body extending forwardly therefrom and defining a duct through which cut crop can be fed, a header mounted on the feeder housing for transport thereby across the ground, the header including a header frame extending transversely of the feeder housing, an opening on the header frame at the feeder housing allowing passage of crop material from the header frame into the feeder housing, an auger transport device mounted on the header and rotatable about an axis longitudinal of the frame, the auger transport device carrying helical flight portions arranged to move the crop material inwardly of the header frame to said opening, means for feeding the crop material from the helical flight portions into the feeder housing through the opening, and suction means located on the header frame adjacent the opening arranged to draw dust from the area of the opening while allowing the crop material to be fed into the feeder housing.